College Students Get Free Entry, Race for $5 During College Night Street Fights

College students with ID even can race their parents' mini-van at Street Fights for just $5.

Thanks to a group of students at East Tennessee State University, College Night at Taco Bell® Street Fights on Thursday, April 26 will be the perfect evening to take a break from study time and learn about reaction time.

At the beginning of the semester, students from the Motorsports Operations program at ETSU were tasked with developing and executing promotions for a Bristol Dragway event. They chose to continue the College Night theme from years past with a couple of additions.

To provide students with the perfect study break, anyone with a college ID can watch the action for free and race their own street-legal vehicle for just $5.

John King, local NASCAR driver and winner of the 2012 Truck Series event in Daytona, will be on hand to sign autographs and meet with his area fans. The 24-year-old racer has made quite a name for himself early in the season, and currently finds himself eighth in points.

Additionally, college students can register throughout the evening for a little extra cash for next semester. At the end of the night, one lucky student will walk away with $250 to apply toward the cost of textbooks.

Thursday also marks the first Power Hour of the season, as the region’s baddest street-legal machines slug it out for supremacy in Thunder Valley.

One more promotion sure to make the college crowd happy is the season-long Taco Bell® gift-card giveaway. Anyone who brings a Taco Bell® receipt can register to win a Taco Bell® gift card which will be given away at the end of the night. One Taco Bell® gift card will be given away at each Street Fights event.

Gates open at 5 p.m. on Thursday evening, with racing set for 6 p.m. For those without college ID, spectator admission is $5, while anyone can race for only $10.

The DER Bracket Racing Series also returns to action when the best bracket racers around go head-to-head during the series’ second weekend April 28-29.

Gates open Saturday at 10 a.m., with tech at 10:30 a.m. and time trials at noon. Eliminations begin at the conclusion of time trials.

Gates open at 9 a.m. Sunday. Tech inspection is scheduled for 10 a.m., followed by time trials at 10:30 a.m. Eliminations take place after time trials.